Understanding God as life itself!?!?
Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2021 8:36 am
Day 6
Greener Pastures
“Let’s go deeper and consider the difference between seeing God as the giver of things that sustain life and understanding God as life itself.”
“Early in our journey in the wilderness, let’s consider the ways God has prepared a table for us in the wilderness. Recount occasions when he has provided unexpectedly and supernaturally in desert-like places. Which seasons of life and ministry were as dry as a desert drought? As God led us out of our helplessness and hopelessness to greener pastures?”
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. The older I get the less impressed I am with my performance and accomplishments. That’s quite a statement coming from someone who craves recognition. I remember participating in a large and significant worship meeting some 25 or 30 years ago. Each day I had my eyes closed and my hands raised in the appearance of worshipping God. But in my mind and heart I was imagining a photographer snapping my picture for placement on the front cover of a Christian magazine promoting the conference. God has been so patient with me through the years, knowing that I need the solitude of green pastures a million times more than my picture plastered on the front of a magazine, especially when the picture misrepresents reality. I’m so blessed and now see how and where God has restored my soul through the years. My morning walks, packpacking in Dolly Sods Wilderness Area countless times, mountain and beach vacations with family, biking to secluded places, reflection time at Weverton Cliffs, on countless porches and a deck above the Potomac River were and are times when God spoke, I listened and He listened.
As I contemplated greener pastures I thought about those in the past and present whose life seemed or seems devoid of the peace and refreshment we associate with this topic. Those who have transitioned well from this world into the next have had their heart and mind fixated on the Kingdom of God in lieu of this world and understand Jesus words of instruction to his disciples; “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” In Jesus was and is life and that life is the light of all people. And when Christ returns, darkness will be gone forever and everyone will know he is life itself.
1/30/2021
Dave Dassoulas
dave@hopebuilders.com
Greener Pastures
“Let’s go deeper and consider the difference between seeing God as the giver of things that sustain life and understanding God as life itself.”
“Early in our journey in the wilderness, let’s consider the ways God has prepared a table for us in the wilderness. Recount occasions when he has provided unexpectedly and supernaturally in desert-like places. Which seasons of life and ministry were as dry as a desert drought? As God led us out of our helplessness and hopelessness to greener pastures?”
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. The older I get the less impressed I am with my performance and accomplishments. That’s quite a statement coming from someone who craves recognition. I remember participating in a large and significant worship meeting some 25 or 30 years ago. Each day I had my eyes closed and my hands raised in the appearance of worshipping God. But in my mind and heart I was imagining a photographer snapping my picture for placement on the front cover of a Christian magazine promoting the conference. God has been so patient with me through the years, knowing that I need the solitude of green pastures a million times more than my picture plastered on the front of a magazine, especially when the picture misrepresents reality. I’m so blessed and now see how and where God has restored my soul through the years. My morning walks, packpacking in Dolly Sods Wilderness Area countless times, mountain and beach vacations with family, biking to secluded places, reflection time at Weverton Cliffs, on countless porches and a deck above the Potomac River were and are times when God spoke, I listened and He listened.
As I contemplated greener pastures I thought about those in the past and present whose life seemed or seems devoid of the peace and refreshment we associate with this topic. Those who have transitioned well from this world into the next have had their heart and mind fixated on the Kingdom of God in lieu of this world and understand Jesus words of instruction to his disciples; “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” In Jesus was and is life and that life is the light of all people. And when Christ returns, darkness will be gone forever and everyone will know he is life itself.
1/30/2021
Dave Dassoulas
dave@hopebuilders.com